Author: Web Manager

Renewable Energy and Mini-grid Architecture for Powering Communities

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The issue of poor power supply has a persistent problem in numerous countries across Africa, despite the abundant availability of natural resources. Hence, the need for exploring Renewable energy sources has become necessary in solving this power problem.

For instance, Nigeria has 63% of her land area covered with water with an average land height of 609.5m. The potential to produce hydropower is quite evident.

Hydropower still remains one of the key resources to enhance electrification to meet the existing demand especially for rural electrification. Small hydropower (SHP) in particular offers an ideal solution for electrification given its broad range of use and quicker deployment in comparison to large hydropower.

A number of studies have been carried out on the SHP potential in the country since 1980. One of such studies stated that the technical and economically feasible potential of SHP stood at a staggering 735MW.

The emergence of the minigrid policy has given new optimism in enhancing electrification quicker and at a more cost effective manner. Developing minigrids with SHP is essential to take advantage of the immense SHP potential in the country. Communities around water bodies such as those around River Chanchaga in Niger state, and the Asejire community in Oyo state are some of the numerous settlements that can benefit from SHP based minigrids. Such minigrids can be based entirely on SHP generation alone or as hybrids in tandem with other renewable energy sources like solar, wind et al.

The SmarT hydropower turbine by hydropower experts; Global Hydro Energy, is a prime example of such technology. With a generation capacity range of 100kW to 1MW, the SmarT is a SHP solution that can be used as a standalone or in a hybrid system using its Heros SCADA platform. This technology also assures up to 25% and 40% cost savings on civil works and electromechanical components as against conventional SHP solutions. Therefore, it ultimately translates to reducing the cost per kWhr.

The SmarT Turbine – Containerized Francis Turbine

Geogrid Energy Company is the partner of Global Hydro Energy based in Lagos, Nigeria. For further enquiries, kindly contact us at info@geogridenergy.com

Powering Nigeria; The Light-up Phenomenon

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The power situation in the country is one of the key issues facing her development. A number of initiatives have been set up to tackle this by municipal administrations. Such initiatives have evolved from being a federal government initiative to being implemented at the state government level. This is especially true for the Light Up initiative. Continue reading “Powering Nigeria; The Light-up Phenomenon” →

Geogrid Lightec Limited, MPDC Partnership

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Following the earlier partnership with the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Geogrid Lightec Limited (GLT) and the MAN Power Development Company (MPDC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the supply of uninterrupted power to the members of the association within the Agidingbi – Acme Axis of the Ogba industrial cluster on the 14th of November. This was done with the press and members of the public in attendance as well as executives of both companies.

With the generating license to generate 30 MW of power in place, this landmark achievement represents a significant step towards the take-off of the Co-generation plant. The talks have been ongoing between the two parties for the past six months, ironing out intricacies to the project and have culminated in the signing of the MoU. This agreement could not have come at a better time  going by the recently released  Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) regulations pertaining to the Eligible Customer Status .

Here are highlights from the event;

Powering Nigeria; The Mini-grid Solution

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Reality further sunk in  last week when reports coming out from a tour of the power stations in Niger state run by Main Stream Energy Solutions Limited stated that power generation from the Jebba and Kainji power plant have been cut by 426MW. In a nation where over 50 million people are still without electricity and a sizeable chunk of consumers with access are underserved, that is a lot of power to be wasted.

There has been good effort put in by the PMB government to gradually increase generation capacity, with an optimistic figure of 7,000 MW being stated as the nation’s current generating capacity. However, the main issue is getting all available power to the populace with minimal losses. The distribution companies (DISCOs) have constantly been accused of rejecting power sent to them and, with the advent of this report, it is clear that there is much to be resolved on the distribution end of the electricity value chain.

Implementing power solutions off grid offers a viable means of providing electricity to the unreached while the issues surrounding the DISCOs get resolved. Already, major manufacturing companies are generating their own power, totally cutting off on-grid power supply, in order to maintain optimum production levels. Off grid solutions can come in different modes such as captive power generation, embedded power generation or mini-grids.

The mini-grid infrastructure, as an off-grid solution, provides the avenue of bringing power generation closer to the consumer as well as distributing the electricity generated through a custom distribution network. Mini-grids can serve as the optimum platform for implementing renewable energy solutions. Conventional fossil fuel power generation can be used in mini grids such gas fired turbines and combined heat and power plants. Already, Mini-grids has been touted as the way forward for consumers who are in rural areas out of the service area of the national grid. However, Mini-grids can also serve to power developing peri-urban areas as well as industrial clusters. By the second quarter of the year, conversations around mini-grid implementation and regulations were rife with agitation to pass into law legislature that will give legal backing to its implementation. It was eventually signed on the 24th of May, 2017.Though the current legislature favours the distribution companies (as this article elaborates), the way has been paved for investment and innovative solutions as well as budding collaboration between various players in the power industry especially among Discos and Embedded Generators (EGs) with Mini-grid solution.

 

Article image courtesy of World Resources Institute

Geogrid Energy and Global Hydro Energy; The accent of a unique partnership

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As September heralded to a close, Global Hydro Energy Gmbh stated her intent in bringing small hydropower to Nigeria. The Austrian company, one of Europe’s top hydropower solutions developer, was in Lagos at the Advantage Austria event held on the 25th of September to present their line of solutions as well as their latest innovation, the Smart T. One of the founding founders of the company, Mr Marius Haeger, described the technology as a plug and play system which can be designed to the customer’s specification and can generate up to 1 megawatts (MW). In addition, these small hydropower solutions can be implemented in hybrid systems to incorporate solar systems in mini-grid infrastructure thereby offering greater efficiency. They have extensive experience implementing their solutions across the world and are seeking to penetrate the sub-Saharan African market.

As one of Nigeria’s premier power solutions provider, we at Geogrid Energy Company (GEC) have entered a partnership with Global Hydro to bring this technology to the Nigerian market. This comes as a good time especially with the recent reforms in the power sector and mini-grid regulation. Hydropower is still a widely untapped frontier when it comes to power in Nigeria and small hydropower offers a route to exploiting it. Our managing director, Mr Dayo Sobitan, stated at the event GEC’s commitment to implementing small hydropower across the nation via the mini grid infrastructure thereby bringing sustainable and clean power to offtakers especially those underserved and/or unserved by the grid.

Our sights are firmly set on making sure small hydropower gains a foothold in the Nigerian energy space as well as in Africa. This, we intend to achieve with our partners at Global Hydro Energy Gmbh.

Here are some pictorial highlights from the event;

 

Gas to Power -Taking Advantage of Gas Flare

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In terms of power, gas flaring has cost the country 3,500 MW (megawatt) of electricity as at 2015 according to the Department of Petroleum Resources.

Way forward-

Firstly, government’s attitude towards this colossal wastage has to change through implementing viable policies and regulatory infrastructure. This will act as a driver to ensure companies operating in the sector put up the necessary infrastructure to reduce and, eventually, eliminate gas flaring.

Secondly, the country needs more private sector companies to seize opportunity with gas flare by investing in the gas infrastructure towards converting flare gas to usable fuel for either gas fired power plant or transportation.

As a power company, Geogrid Energy Company recognizes such opportunity and willing to enter into an MOU with such innovative companies in electrifying Nigeria and beyond.

Geogrid, MAN Partner on Embedded Power Generation to Manufacturers

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Following the award of her 30 MW embedded generation license by NERC, Geogrid has moved to supply power to manufacturers.

Given the current epileptic power supply in the country,it can be said that this is a critical component responsible for huge capital/operation & maintenance cost incurred for self-generated power by manufacturers leading to increased production costs. Also, this directly translates into increased cost of goods & consumer products.

Geogrid has recognized this and seeks to take this burden off the manufacturer so that they can more efficiently focus on their core business which will help bring down their cost of production. As a result, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) are collaborating with us to make this a reality.

Read more here; http://punchng.com/geogrid-man-collaborate-on-alternative-power-supply/

 

SMALL HYDRO POWER (SHP) – A NEW FRONTIER FOR MICRO/MINI GRID

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We all know how the power situation in our dear country is and its history. With the problems of power supply persisting coupled with gas pipeline vandalization such that gas supply to the thermal power plants is erratic thereby shifting the focus on diversification of the energy mix especially by the present government with the spotlight on renewable power sources in particular.

Of course, solar energy is likely the first to come to mind with substantial investment already been laid down by institutions and companies like the African Development Bank. However, there’s another renewable energy source that has massive and untapped potential; Hydropower.

Do I hear you say we have Kanji, Jebba and Shiroro Dams already?

Yes, we do but these are a mere fraction of what hydropower can offer our country. This power source alone can add above 14,000 MW to the nation according to the Energy Commission of Nigeria and the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

Now Small Hydro Power is the most interesting of this lot. Why? This is because it requires the least investment out of the hydro power sources and can be applied to achieve to obtain power as low as 100 Kilo Watt (KW) or lower. And we do have a lot of rivers which can easily generate power using SHPs. Also, when one takes into account that 55% of our population have no access to grid power and majority these are outside cities, SHPs represents one of the primary ways which rural electrification can be achieved.

SHP plants can be executed to supply the grid or/and in a micro/mini-grid infrastructure.

It must be said that this power solution is not another white elephant project as SHP plants have already been executed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO, in Taraba and Bauchi states.

With the potential for SHP scattered across the country, Geogrid Energy Company is ready to take advantage of the exciting prospect.

GEOGRID ATTENDS AUSTRIAN TRADE MISSION

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The Commercial Section of the Austrian Embassies in Lagos and Casablanca are organizing an Austrian Trade mission to Sub-Saharan Africa from 26th March to 1st of April. 20 Austrian companies will be participating in this event. Geogrid will be in attendance and our focus will be on individual back to back meetings with exhibitors, distributors and other potential business partners.

This trade mission presents an exciting opportunity to establish key partnerships and deliver innovative power solutions into the energy market especially the Nigerian market. Geogrid is primed and ready to take advantage of this unique opportunity.